Cosmical Wonderland Poem by Harley White

A wonderland wintry some may descry
in the Chandra composite scene
although a ‘cluster of clusters' on high
spread across the cosmical screen

comprises the image we see in space
five thousand five hundred light-years
from our priceless Goldilocks place of grace
with the fears and tears of our peers

plus likewise what passes for present mirth,
to cite song in a Shakespeare play,
where humankind undergoes death and birth
and e'er vies to inflict its way

upon the environs in which it dwells,
for animals withal are we,
creating our very own earthly hells
from which we are then forced to flee.

Yet peering so far from the close-up view
on which our rampages arise
could help put right our perspective askew
to bring ego more down to size.

NGC six three five seven may seem
like land of enchantment beyond,
of manifold hues as if in a dream
realized through wave of a wand.

Still rather than being a calm locale,
perhaps there's sidereal strife.
Or might the stars have their own rationale
in such stellar liveliness rife?

Anyhow in this X-ray depiction
there are bubbles and cavities
from science indeed, not science fiction,
created from their gravities

as well as by radiation and stuff
blown away from astral facades
plus some supernova blasts sure enough
through explosive forces at odds

with the tendencies implosive from mass
‘midst the golden rules of the stars
and X-ray emissions from the hot gas
in cluster of cluster's memoirs.

So the fancy our illusion fashions
when at the portrayal gazing
is shaped perhaps from poetic passions,
that make it look more amazing.

But must we seek far to better see near
the wonderland where we exist?
We've myriad natural marvels here
all by sunlight and moonbeams kissed.

‘What's to come is still unsure, ' says a phrase
in the song lyric further on
with ‘carpe diem' the message of praise,
for tomorrow we might be gone.

Yet while we remain on our planet blue
and behold the stars overhead,
may we learn to prize its value anew
as the journey of life we tread.